News tagged with genetic
DNA strands create tiniest Smileys
Harvard University scientists on Wednesday said they had created Smileys, Chinese characters and card-game symbols at scales of billionths of a metre using strands of DNA.
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
16 hours ago |
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Researchers develop nanodevice manufacturing strategy using DNA 'building blocks'
Researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University have developed a method for building complex nanostructures out of short synthetic strands of DNA. Called single-stranded ...
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
16 hours ago |
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16th-century Korean mummy provides clue to hepatitis B virus genetic code
The discovery of a mummified Korean child with relatively preserved organs enabled an Israeli-South Korean scientific team to conduct a genetic analysis on a liver biopsy which revealed a unique hepatitis ...
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
May 29, 2012 |
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50-year cholera mystery solved: Answers may help clear the way for a new class of antibiotics
For 50 years scientists have been unsure how the bacteria that gives humans cholera manages to resist one of our basic innate immune responses. That mystery has now been solved, thanks to research from biologists at The University ...
May 29, 2012 |
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Efficient preparation of a set of potential glycosidase inhibitors
(Phys.org) -- In many biological and pathological processes, glycosidase enzymes attack glycosidic bonds in carbohydrates, glycoproteins, and glycolipids. The ability to modify or block these processes by ...
May 29, 2012 |
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Genome provides new weapon against sea lice
An international team of researchers has now sequenced nearly the entire genetic material of the sea louse. On 1 March the Institute of Marine Research gave the world open access to this research source, which ...
May 29, 2012 |
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Copy of the genetic makeup travels in a protein suitcase
Scientists from the Institute for Physical and Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Bonn have succeeded for the first time in the real time filming of the transport of an important information carrier in biological ...
May 25, 2012 |
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Looking out for the Myanmar snub-nosed monkey
A new genetic study has shed light on how the newly discovered Myanmar snub-nosed monkey evolved.
May 25, 2012 |
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Pivotal role for proteins -- from helping turn carbs into energy to causing devastating disease
Research into how carbohydrates are converted into energy has led to a surprising discovery with implications for the treatment of a perplexing and potentially fatal neuromuscular disorder and possibly even cancer and heart ...
May 24, 2012 |
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Researchers find a way to delay aging of stem cells
Stem cells are essential building blocks for all organisms, from plants to humans. They can divide and renew themselves throughout life, differentiating into the specialized tissues needed during development, ...
May 24, 2012 |
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Burmese cats to benefit from genetic test for newly discovered mutation
Burmese cats can inherit a muscle weakness, called Burmese hypokalaemia, which is caused by low levels of blood potassium.
May 24, 2012 |
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Nanofluidics sorts DNA for cancer research
(Phys.org) -- Cornell nanotechnology researchers have devised a new tool to study epigenetic changes in DNA that can cause cancer and other diseases: a nanoscale fluidic device that sorts and collects DNA, ...
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
May 24, 2012 |
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Project to examine 'Yeti' DNA
(Phys.org) -- A new collaboration between Oxford University and the Lausanne Museum of Zoology will use the latest genetic techniques to investigate organic remains that some have claimed belong to the Yeti ...
May 23, 2012 |
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For monogamous sparrows, it doesn't pay to stray (but they do it anyway)
It's quite common for a female song sparrow to stray from her breeding partner and mate with the male next door, but a new study shows that sleeping around can be costly.
May 22, 2012 |
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New means of safeguarding world fish stocks proven
Powerful and versatile new genetic tools that will assist in safeguarding both European fish stocks and European consumers is reported in Nature Communications. The paper reports on the first system proven to identify popula ...
May 22, 2012 |
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Genetics
Genetics (from Ancient Greek γενετικός genetikos, “genitive” and that from γένεσις genesis, “origin”), a discipline of biology, is the science of heredity and variation in living organisms. The fact that living things inherit traits from their parents has been used since prehistoric times to improve crop plants and animals through selective breeding. However, the modern science of genetics, which seeks to understand the process of inheritance, only began with the work of Gregor Mendel in the mid-nineteenth century. Although he did not know the physical basis for heredity, Mendel observed that organisms inherit traits via discrete units of inheritance, which are now called genes.
Genes correspond to regions within DNA, a molecule composed of a chain of four different types of nucleotides—the sequence of these nucleotides is the genetic information organisms inherit. DNA naturally occurs in a double stranded form, with nucleotides on each strand complementary to each other. Each strand can act as a template for creating a new partner strand—this is the physical method for making copies of genes that can be inherited.
The sequence of nucleotides in a gene is translated by cells to produce a chain of amino acids, creating proteins—the order of amino acids in a protein corresponds to the order of nucleotides in the gene. This relationship between nucleotide sequence and amino acid sequence is known as the genetic code. The amino acids in a protein determine how it folds into a three-dimensional shape; this structure is, in turn, responsible for the protein's function. Proteins carry out almost all the functions needed for cells to live. A change to the DNA in a gene can change a protein's amino acids, changing its shape and function: this can have a dramatic effect in the cell and on the organism as a whole. Two additional factors that can change the shape of the protein are pH and temperature.
Although genetics plays a large role in the appearance and behavior of organisms, it is the combination of genetics with what an organism experiences that determines the ultimate outcome. For example, while genes play a role in determining an organism's size, the nutrition and other conditions it experiences after inception also have a large effect.
For more information about Genetics, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.